Voice activated technology is a rapidly developing area of the computer world. Today, many devices incorporate voice activation technology so certain functions of the device can be performed based on voice commands. For example, many home appliances are equipped with voice-activated technology as to allow a consumer to orally command, for example, a lighting system to power on by using voice commands. Such a feature is particularly advantageous when a person cannot manually activate a device because their hands are occupied or the device switch is in an inconvenient place.
For example, one may be carrying groceries into a house and is unable to manually activate the light switch, consequently, if the lighting system in the house has voice activated technology therein, the person may simply say, for example, “lights on” to activate the lights. This technology saves the person the trouble from having to put the groceries down, manually activate the lights, and then pick up the groceries. The ability to use voice-activated technology, of course, presumes that the user is able to speak. Consequently, those persons who cannot speak cannot take advantage of voice-activated technology.
Gesture recognition is another rapidly developing area in the computer world. Gesture recognition is not based on voice commands but, rather, allows a device to recognize certain gestures. The inventors, however, are not aware of any gesture recognition systems that are used in conjunction with the operation of home appliances. Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods that use gesture recognition to operate home appliances.